Democratic gubernatorial candidate Allyson Schwartz swung by the PennLive Editorial Board on Monday moring for an hour-long chat that ran the gamut of public policy issues.

Like the rest of the Democratic candidates (Tom Wolf, Katie McGinty and Rob McCord) vying to face Republican Gov. Tom Corbett this November, Schwartz is a big fan of hitting Marcellus shale natural gas drillers with a severance tax.

So, with that in mind, here's five takeaways from our conversation with Schwartz:

1. The natural gas under northeastern and southwestern Pennsylvania isn't going anywhere and drillers in other states have built a severance tax into their costs, so Pennsylvania needs to pass one, Schwartz says.

The Democrat favors a 5 percent levy, which would put Pennsylvania into line with other gas-producing states, she said. In the first year, such a tax would raise $660 million in its first year, rising to $2 billion by 2020.

"That's real revenue," she said.

A fan of local control, Schwartz doesn't favor a statewide moratorium on drilling. But she does believe such decisions should be made on a case-by-base basis. For instance, she supports a ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin but opposes one in the Susquehanna River Basin. And she would impose a moratorium on drilling in state forests and parks.

2. Because it's certain to become a campaign issue in November's general election, Schwartz talked about her experience running a women's health center in Philadelphia which also provided first-trimester abortions. The clinic provided what Schwartz described as "out-of-hospital" birth services with midwives.

"We did a whole lot of care for women," she said of the clinic she opened in the mid-1970s. "We did some really important work for women."

She used the discussion about the clinic to take a pop at Corbett, who opposes abortion and once remarked that a woman could just close her eyes if now-scuttled legislation mandating an invasive ultrasound procedure ever became law.

"This is a pro-choice state," Schwartz said, labeling Corbett an "extremist" with his opposition to abortion rights.

3. She's sticking to the "Tom Corbett $1 billion from public education" narrative.

A favorite among the Democratic candidates this campaign season, Schwartz faulted Corbett for cutting state support for public education.

True, districts did lose significant support with the disappearance of federal stimulus money and many were forced to trim staff and cut programs when the money went away.

"Ask any school district, any parent any teacher and they feel those cuts," she said. "They have felt the $1 billion in cuts. He consolidated programs. He cut state reimbursement for full-day kindergarten. It makes a difference in kids lives."

And Corbett can show that he increased state support for K-12 education in each of his first, three budgets.

But the math gets a little fuzzy with the administration's admission that the funding increases were also used to underwrite teacher pensions. His opponents have argued that the administration shouldn't get to count that as an increase in instructional spending.

The administration flat-lined state support for the basic education subsidy -- the biggest chunk of direct state support for K-12 education. Instead, it proposed a series of block grants that it says will give districts greater flexibility on how they spend state money.

"Our school districts have seen a reduction in money. They’ve seen cuts. We’ve seen property taxes go up to make up the difference," she said.

4. Like her new ad says, Pennsylvanians have benefited from the Affordable Care Act.

The new spot, which has been airing around the state for the last couple of weeks, finds Schwartz not only wrapping herself in the Obamacare mantle, but also taking a shot at Corbett for turning down federal Medicaid expansion money.

Corbett's opposition (he's seeking federal waivers for a modified program to move people into the private market) "makes it much more difficult than it has to be ... for 500,000 people in Pennsylvania to have health coverage.

In case you missed it, here's the commercial:

5. Katie Who? Rob Who?
With three weeks to go until Election Day, Schwartz is casting the primary as a battle between herself and frontrunner Tom Wolf, a businessman from York County, who poured millions of (mostly borrowed) money into a series of glitzy advertisements that's propelled to the front of the polls.

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